erer after Creon told them that they should take revenge upon the murderer of Laios. Oedipus thought that Tireseas was lying to him. Because Tireseas had power given to him by the gods, in a way, Oedipus was, again, saying that he was better than someone the gods gave power to by not believing Tireseas’s prophecy or in his gift. Oedipus’s pride effected the lives of the people of Thebes, through the plague put on the people. Another effect that Oedipus’s pride had in the play was on his parents, Laios and Iocaste. His pride caused him to come to Thebes in the first place. Had he not come to Thebes, then perhaps he would not have killed his father and married his mother. Also, his pride in thinking that he was better than others, including the gods, caused him to solve the Sphinx’s riddle. This, in turn, made him a hero in the city of Thebes and he became the new king. When he was told of the news that Laios was killed at a place in which three highway’s meet, he thinks that it was not the same person that he killed because someone said that there were more people there than should have been. His pride prevented him from listening Iocaste when she told him that he should not investigate his true parents when she realizes that she is his mother (I iii 149). In the end, his pride prevented him from seeing the truth that his parents were really Laios and Iocaste.Oedipus’s pride also effects his own life. He constantly put off believed that he was the murderer and instead believed that he could outsmart the gods. Oedipus’s pride prevented him from seeing the truth about himself. He makes a promise to the people about finding the person who murdered Laios and have revenge on him as if he were Laios’s son. When he is told, “He [Polybus] had no children, and his heart turned to you (I iii 107),” and also that the shepard that gave Oedipus to the messenger was from Laios’s kingdo...
